Cheryl Funke receives state award

In a room no bigger than a closet inside Opportunity Elementary School, Cheryl Funke helps 5-year-old Toni Basile put on a pair of headphones.

In a soothing and quiet voice Funke tells the timid girl what to do.

“Just raise your hand when you hear the beep,” Funke instructs the kindergartner. “Good job. That’s just perfect.”

Basile smiles wide, and shyly looks down at her feet. Funke scribbles some numbers on a pad, and moves on to the next child waiting nearby.

Before the child begins to read from an eye chart, Funke bends down to tie the boy’s shoe.

“Your shoe is untied. I’ll just tie it up for you. We wouldn’t want you to trip and fall,” Funke says, patting the boy gently on the shoulder. He smiles.

Funke, a nurse specialist for the Central Valley School District spent Thursday morning performing state-mandated vision and hearing screenings at Opportunity.

It’s not long before she is sought out to look at a sliver wedged under a fingernail, and a little rash on a student’s nose. The teacher wants to know if the red bumps are contagious, and should the boy be sent home.

As the lead nurse for the district, Funke supervises eight other school nurses, and is assigned a day and a half each week at both Opportunity and University elementary schools.

In addition to vision, hearing and scoliosis screening for various grade levels and day-to-day bumps and bruises, Funke works with parents and teachers to implement student care plans for students with special needs, such as diabetes, asthma or attention deficit disorder.

Funke gives instruction to school staff about how to administer certain medicines, handle tube feedings and oxygen administration.

She also acts as part-time counselor for individual students and staff seeking help with health.

“Cheryl is a great asset to Central Valley,” said Mike Pearson, district superintendent. “She exemplifies the quality of the staff in our special services programs and their dedication to the success of our students.”

For her dedication, Funke was recently selected to receive the Washington State School Nurse of the Year Award. The award is given each year by the School Nurse Organization of Washington, to honor one school nurse who demonstrates excellence in school nursing. She will also represent the state as a candidate for the National School Nurse of the Year Award, to be announced in the spring.

“It’s really quite an honor,” Funke said Thursday.

Among her many accomplishments, Funke has helped implement technology improvements to enhance nurse efficiency using laptop computers, said Melanie Rose, district spokeswoman. Forms are installed on the computers and can be used to merge documents, taking away time from paperwork and directing it back to the students.

“I also use technology to educate staff and parents though PowerPoint presentations on such topics as diabetes, medication management, and blood borne pathogens,” Funke said.

A nurse for 27 years, Funke has worked with Central Valley since 1995. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Washington State University and holds a master of nursing degree from the University of Washington.

For many years she was a registered nurse in the hospital setting, and worked in public health. In search of more human interaction with her patients, she became a school nurse at the age of 40.

“I feel like I can use every part of what I do as a nurse,” Funke said. “I figured out what I want to be when I grow up, finally.”